Smash the Symbol

Suppose people agree that symbol X represents Y, where Y could be a person, or a group of people, a place, or a group of places, or perhaps Y is just some abstract idea. Whatever Y is, the point is that while some may be more fond of Y than others are, people agree that symbol X represents it.

However, attitudes can change over time. Often, a way to express that attitudes towards Y are tending further towards contempt is to symbolically destroy at least one version of symbol X.

In real life, this was a major aspect of the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and of the toppling of statues.

Insignia Rip Off Ritual and Monumental Damage are both subtropes of this.

Examples of Smash the Symbol include:

Anime and Manga

• In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a crowd pulls down the enormous statue of Kamina during a period of social instability caused by the impending destruction of earth. This is likely a reference to the Lenin-statue-toppling example from real life.

Comic Book

• V destroys the statue of Justice in both the comic and film of V for Vendetta.
• This Superman cover is a villain-against-hero example.
• In the middle of Knightfall, when Commissioner Gordon finished an inconclusive and frustrating argument with the Anti-Hero Substitute Batman, he struck the Bat-Signal out of anger, leaving it cracked but not entirely destroyed.

Film

• The opening scene of The Mask of Zorro has a peasant climbing a flag pole during a riot in order to rip down a Spanish flag.
• The page image is from towards the end of The Dark Knight, when the bat-signal was smashed with an axe. This moment is after Batman said he would take the blame for Harvey Dent's murders; it's implied that people are smashing the bat-signal to symbolize their increasing disapproval of Batman. This is a somewhat unconventional approach to this trope, seeing as how rather than portraying it as destroying the symbol of a villain, it is instead destroying the symbol of a hero who is (willingly) being mistaken for a villain.
• In the finale of Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks are using stormtrooper helmets for percussion. in the Special Edition, we get a view of Coruscant where a statue of the Emperor is pulled down.
• At the end of This Is England, Shaun takes the St George's flag given to him by the nationalist gang leader and hurls it into the sea following his Broken Pedestal moment.
• V destroys the statue of Justice in both the comic and film of V for Vendetta.
• The Sound of Music - at least in the film adaptation, Captain von Trap starts tearing up the Nazi flags hung outside of his house once he's decided that he doesn't want anything to do with them.
• The climax of the Trucking strike in F.I.S.T. is when F.I.S.T. tears down the Consolidated Trucking sign.
• In The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens Kylo Ren's helmet is proof of his heritage to Darth Vader. However, he smashes it in The Last Jedi to indicate that he's out to make a name for himself instead of trying to live up to his grandfather's legacy.

Literature

• In Sewer, Gas & Electric, Dufresne's eco-pirates have a hideout in a replica Nazi submarine base hidden under the Statue of Liberty (long story). When they took possession of the site, Jewish techno-genius Morris Kazenstein blew the swastika out of the clutches of a giant eagle statue, using a magnetic rail-gun that fires kosher salami.
• Geralt's drifting away from the Witcher ideal of a True Neutral monster hunter throughout The Witcher saga is underlined by the (involuntary) loss of symbolic items that identify him as a Witcher: his steel and silver swords are lost during the Thanedd coup in Times of Contempt and his silver wolf medallion is accidentally melted by magical fire in Tower of the Swallow. He does get another medallion towards the end of Lady of the Lake and a new pair of swords in the video game sequel.
• In The Two Towers When some of the protagonists leave Isengard after Saruman's defeat, they ride by the huge White Hand, the symbol of Saruman's realm, and see that it has been broken.

Live Action TV

• In The Twilight Zone episode "The Little People", an astronaut finds the race of tiny people, and forces them to build a life-sized statue to him. After his karmic demise, they topple it.
• A minor example, but well-timed in its execution and subtle implication. In season 3 of Babylon 5, Captain Sheridan is forced to declare Martial Law. Meanwhile, there is a general riot in the Zocalo as station residents fight back against the oppressive Nightwatch. Then, just as Sheridan finishes the declaration, a thrown chair smashes one of the monitors displaying him: like a nonverbal Precision F-Strike against the order.
• In the Lois and Clark episode "Super Mann", Nazis disable Superman and take over Metropolis. After the Man of Steel has recovered and stopped them, he heat-visions a swastika flag, revealing the Daily Planet globe behind it.

Tabletop Games

• From the Flavor Text of Magic: The Gathering's Victorious Destruction:

"The refugees look at these structures with hope. We must relieve them of this burden."

—Juex, Tormentor Exarch

• • From the same game, the Innistrad iteration of Ancient Grudge.

Video Games

• Half-Life 2 has its scene of pulling down the Breen-o-vision monitor.
• The "People's Ending" of Republic the Revolution features a crowd smashing the statue of Novistrana's now-former dictator.

Western Animation

• In Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • When the White Lotus members take Ba Sing Sae back from Fire Nation rule, they pull down a statue Ozai had had put up of himself.
    • In the same scene, Iroh burns a Fire Nation flag that had been hung over an Earth Kingdom symbol.
  • When King Bumi reclaims Omashu on the day of the Eclipse, he defaces an Ozai statue with smiley face bits of stone and then pulls it down.

Real Life

• Again, this is big-time Truth in Television, though the toppling of statues is an especially prominent subset of examples.
  • A subset-within-a-subset is the toppling of statues of dictators in particular; such as Lenin, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or Hussein, after the end of his regime.
    • Removal of Soviet imagery, however, was limited, mainly because sheer amount, spread and often size of it would make this far too expensive and/or dangerous, so usually it was limited to demonstrative removal of a few eye-sore pieces, followed by discovery that everyone has more practical things to do.
    • The toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue may be a subversion, as some sources claim it was staged by American Marines, not the Iraqis themselves.
    • Not so much a subversion as an Analogy Backfire. The symbol was still smashed to represent disdain for what it represents, but that it was smashed by American Marines reflects on how, much like Hussein's regime itself, it was toppled by the Americans, who were not "greeted as liberators" to the extent that the Iraq War's advocates predicted.
• Flag desecration.
• The destruction of Catholic imagery in churches by Protestants both during the English Reformation in the 16th century and the Civil War in the 17th century. In fact, outbreaks of iconoclasm (as it's called) can be found in many religions. The Taliban blowing up ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan, mentioned above, is another instance.
• Destroying a swastika­.
• And of course, the especially historical destruction of the Berlin wall.
• The tale tells that in World War II Soviet pilots were instructed to avoid aiming at big black crosses on their foes' planes. Yep, it was the greatest crosshair bait ever—but Germans knew this too and usually tried to not paint these over anything really important.